Transmission Dynamics of COVID-19 in Ghana and the Impact of Public Health Interventions

Ofori, Sylvia K.; Schwind, Jessica S; Sullivan, Kelly L.; Cowling, Benjamin J.; Chowell, Gerardo; Fung, Isaac Chun-Hai

doi:10.4269/ajtmh.21-0718

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Additionally, parallel investigations into time-varying reproduction numbers in Ghana [ 26 ], Cameroon [ 27 ], and Nigeria [ 28 ] further supported the outcomes of this study. More specifically, these studies collectively illustrate that from late March to April 2020, the effective/time-varying reproduction numbers predominantly fluctuated between 2.5 and 4 in the early stages of the epidemic, gradually declining to 1 by late April and early May, 2020.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 77%

SARS-CoV-2 incidence monitoring and statistical estimation of the basic and time-varying reproduction number at the early onset of the pandemic in 45 sub-Saharan African countries

Oduro,

Arhin-Donkor,

Asiedu

et al. 2024

BMC Public Health

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The world battled to defeat a novel coronavirus 2019 (SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19), a respiratory illness that is transmitted from person to person through contacts with droplets from infected persons. Despite efforts to disseminate preventable messages and adoption of mitigation strategies by governments and the World Health Organization (WHO), transmission spread globally. An accurate assessment of the transmissibility of the coronavirus remained a public health priority for many countries across the world to fight this pandemic, especially at the early onset. In this paper, we estimated the transmission potential of COVID-19 across 45 countries in sub-Saharan Africa using three approaches, namely, $$R_{0}$$ R 0 based on (i) an exponential growth model (ii) maximum likelihood (ML) estimation and (iii) a time-varying basic reproduction number at the early onset of the pandemic. Using data from March 14, 2020, to May 10, 2020, sub-Saharan African countries were still grappling with COVID-19 at that point in the pandemic. The region’s basic reproduction number ($$R_{0}$$ R 0 ) was 1.89 (95% CI: 1.767 to 2.026) using the growth model and 1.513 (95% CI: 1.491 to 1.535) with the maximum likelihood method, indicating that, on average, infected individuals transmitted the virus to less than two secondary persons. Several countries, including Sudan ($$R_{0}$$ R 0 : 2.03), Ghana ($$R_{0}$$ R 0 : 1.87), and Somalia ($$R_{0}$$ R 0 : 1.85), exhibited high transmission rates. These findings highlighted the need for continued vigilance and the implementation of effective control measures to combat the pandemic in the region. It is anticipated that the findings in this study would not only function as a historical record of reproduction numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic in African countries, but can serve as a blueprint for addressing future pandemics of a similar nature.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 77%

SARS-CoV-2 incidence monitoring and statistical estimation of the basic and time-varying reproduction number at the early onset of the pandemic in 45 sub-Saharan African countries

Oduro,

Arhin-Donkor,

Asiedu

et al. 2024

BMC Public Health

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“…It is important to note that the epidemic control policy in Nigeria and Ghana 25 were relatively homogenous (especially during the early waves of the pandemic when this study was conducted), comprising of a combination of lockdowns, travel restriction and curfews, social distancing, quarantine, robust surveillance mechanisms, contact tracing and public health education 26 – 28 . Hence the heterogeneity in seroprevalence between the study sites may relate to Nigerian HCWs being at higher risk of exposure than the non HCW population that dominated the Ghanaian study site.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SARS-COV-2 antibody responses to AZD1222 vaccination in West Africa

et al. 2022

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Real-world data on vaccine-elicited neutralising antibody responses for two-dose AZD1222 in African populations are limited. We assessed baseline SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and levels of protective neutralizing antibodies prior to vaccination rollout using binding antibodies analysis coupled with pseudotyped virus neutralisation assays in two cohorts from West Africa: Nigerian healthcare workers (n = 140) and a Ghanaian community cohort (n = 527) pre and post vaccination. We found 44 and 28% of pre-vaccination participants showed IgG anti-N positivity, increasing to 59 and 39% respectively with anti-receptor binding domain (RBD) IgG-specific antibodies. Previous IgG anti-N positivity significantly increased post two-dose neutralizing antibody titres in both populations. Serological evidence of breakthrough infection was observed in 8/49 (16%). Neutralising antibodies were observed to wane in both populations, especially in anti-N negative participants with an observed waning rate of 20% highlighting the need for a combination of additional markers to characterise previous infection. We conclude that AZD1222 is immunogenic in two independent West African cohorts with high background seroprevalence and incidence of breakthrough infection in 2021. Waning titres post second dose indicates the need for booster dosing after AZD1222 in the African setting despite hybrid immunity from previous infection.

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“…The difference could also be due to the sample concentration methods used in the studies (direct flocculation vs. two-phase (separation)). The regional variations in the confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 in Spain (218,652) [ 18 ], Italy (181,228) [ 12 ], and the Czech Republic (10,064) [ 17 ] compared to Ghana (153,514) [ 19 ] could have also influenced the positivity rates. We also observed that SARS-CoV-2 RNA was abundant in sewage ( n = 74) as compared to wastewater ( n = 280).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First Molecular Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Sewage and Wastewater in Ghana

Duker,

Obodai,

Addo

et al. 2024

BioMed Research International

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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is shed in the stool of infected individuals and can be detected in sewage and wastewater contaminated with infected stool. This study is aimed at detecting the virus and its potential survival in sewage and wastewater in Ghana. The cross-sectional study included samples from 16 validated environmental surveillance sites in 7 regions of Ghana. A total of 354 samples composed of wastewater (280) and sewage (74) were collected from November 2020 to November 2022. Overall, 17% of the samples were positive for SARS-CoV-2 by real-time PCR, with 6% in sewage and 11% in wastewater. The highest number of positive samples was collected from the Greater Accra Region (7.3%) with the least recorded in the Bono East Region (0.6%). Further characterization of the positive samples using the next-generation sequencing (NGS) approach yielded two variants: Alpha (B.1.1.7) and Delta (AY.36). Attempts to isolate SARS-CoV-2 in the Vero cell line were not successful probably due to the low viral load concentrations (Ct values>35) or prolonged exposure to high temperatures rendering the virus noninfectious. Our findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 RNA in sewage and wastewater may not be infectious, but the prevalence shows that the virus persists in the communities within Ghana.

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Transmission Dynamics of COVID-19 in Ghana and the Impact of Public Health Interventions

Cited by 8 publications

References 15 publications

SARS-CoV-2 incidence monitoring and statistical estimation of the basic and time-varying reproduction number at the early onset of the pandemic in 45 sub-Saharan African countries

SARS-CoV-2 incidence monitoring and statistical estimation of the basic and time-varying reproduction number at the early onset of the pandemic in 45 sub-Saharan African countries

SARS-COV-2 antibody responses to AZD1222 vaccination in West Africa

First Molecular Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Sewage and Wastewater in Ghana

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